Car-wheel.



UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE.

IIENRY-F.SHAV, OFv BOSTON', AND GEORGE SHAW, OF DEDHAM, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-FOURTH TO HARRY L. AYER, OF BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-WHEEL.

i Appleman inea cette 29. 189s.

To cir/ZZ wwnt t muy concern;

Be it known that we, HENRY F. SHAW, of

Boston, in the county of Suiolk, and GEORGE F. SHAW, of Dedham, in the county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar- Vheels, of which the following is a specication. l

This invention has for its object io provide a wheel adapted particularly for street-railway cars, which shall be adapted to travel on curves with the minimum frictional wear and resistance. y

The invention consists-in the improvements which we will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specication, Figure l represents an edge view of a pair of car-wheels embodying our invention, the track on which said wheels rest being shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a section online 2 2 of Fig/l, showing portions of the wheels above said line in dotted lines. i Fig'. 8 represents an enlarged section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 represents a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the ordinary form of car-wheel fiange.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In one of the ordinary forms of car-wheels the outer face of the flange or that face which bears against the side face of the rail is usually formed at an approximate right angle with the tread-surface of the Wheel, as shown in Fig. e. 1When the wheel is running on a curve, the portion of the fiange which projects below the tread-surface of the rail and bears against the adjacent side of the rail does not conform to the outline of the said adjacent side and bears thereon only at its extreme end portions. The result is a grinding contact between the end portions of this part of the flange and the side surface of the rail and a rapid wearing away of both parts. In consequence of this fact it is now common. to equip street-cars with so-called radial trucks having provisions for keeping the por? tions of the flanges that project below the tread-surfaces of the rails as nearly parallel 5o with the sides of the rails as possible, these 36, dated October 3, 1899.

Serial No. 694,966. (No model.)

'erred to and to enable the flanges of car-,55

lWheels to run, whether mounted on radial trucks or not, with the minimum frictional wearon the side surfaces of the rails. To this end we provide the flange of each wheel with a beveled face ci, which stands at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees with thejtread-surface Zi ofthe wheel, so that the portion of the ange that projects below the tread-surface c of the rail will present to the inner edge e' of the rail a curved surface which fora considerable portion of its length is approximately parallel with the edge c' of the rail, as shown in Fig. 2, and therefore has an elongated bearing thereon, so that the Wear of the Wheel and rail due to the passage of the wheel over curves in the track is materially reduced, and the frictional resistance y is so far reduced that the boxes in which the axles are mounted may be, if desired, fixed rigidly to the trucks'without provision for adjustment lsuch as that provided by the socalled radial truck. Ne prefer to curve the inner portion of the face a inwardly tol the point where it joins the tread-surface l) of the wheel to form a shoulder ct', surrounding the tread-surface and preventing tendency of the flange to slip ,upwardlyon the rail, which might exist if the beveled surface a were continued without being thus curved inwardly to the tread-surface b. The face is curved inwardly to a slight extent between its outer and inner edges, as shown in Fig. 3, this curvature giving the portion of the face that projects below the tread-surface of the rail a somewhat longer bearing on the edge vC' of the rail.

'the rail when passing curves, at which time the utility of the flange as a Whole is most required.

' We do not limit ourselves to forty-five degrees as the angle of the face a), although We consider this a Suitable angle.

The Wheels shown in the drawings are supposed to be mounted in bearings which have no provision for radial adjustment, so that when they are on e curve the axle will extend obliqnely With relation to a radius of the curve. The described form ot' the wheelflanges, however, causes the faces a d of the flanges to bear on the edges c of the rails in such manner that a line rr, which is a radius of the curve, Will intersect the two portions of the Wheel-flanges which bear ,on the rail edges c c', as shown in Fig. 2. Hence the HENRY F. SHAW.' l GEORGE F. SHAWi Witnessesi C. F. BROWN, E. BATCHELDER. 

